Antarctica wrote:
People want to fire him for literally one wrong move and hiring a middling coach.
And there was no way in 2016 of knowing this would shake out the way it did. There is not some eight ball teams can look into. (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky showed no less at UNC than Mahomes at TT. Part of the job is projectability but Mahomes question marks coming out of school were plenty. Still it was not the right pick, nobody will deny it. But I'm not going to crucify him over it until he doubles down it, like the way SF doubled down on Gabagool (who is no better than Mitch) with that massive extension that will cause their precipitous fall from grace.
As for hiring Nagy. You get one interview with the guy and have to just go on gut instinct the rest of the way. There was no way of knowing that Nagy would retreat into his Be You. playsheet and run the same plays for thirty-three straight games.
Pace has done a very good job. You would be very lucky to replace him with somebody as good as him at drafting and free agency. It would be extraordinary to find someone better.
I have seen enough to grant him the position in perpetuity, even through some lean years, as long as he doesn't grow despotic or incompetent.
The issue isn't that he chose wrongly between (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky and Watson or Mahomes. What you say is accurate about the draft evaluations of them.
The issue is he was so scared of having to draft either Watson or Mahomes that he traded up one spot on the off chance that someone came in and "took" (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky from under him. That's why his judgement was so far off. There isn't a case to be made that you give up significant draft capital because you may lose out on your favorite of three quarterbacks that are all rated similarly.
Think about the mindset he had to have on draft day. He not only thought (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky was the best option but he was so far ahead of him that he wouldn't be able to handle it if he lost out on him for Watson or Mahomes.
Add in the fact that he seemingly did very little scouting of the other quarterbacks, or even (Pro Bowl QB) Trubisky, and it does become something that will haunt him his whole career.